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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26365825">pumpkin spice shenanigans</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/redlight/pseuds/redlight'>redlight</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Gen, Giant Spiders, Humor, Ladynoir | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Mutual Pining, Stream of Consciousness, adrien is afraid of spiders, adrien misses his opportunity for a spiderman kiss goddammit, halloween nonsense, villain of the week got his psl order wrong</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:41:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,044</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26365825</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/redlight/pseuds/redlight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Chat Noir breaks his brain fighting the new villain of the week. Well, it's only 'cause Ladybug smiled at him, so the villain part is unrelated.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>We Die Like Fen 4: We Lived to Die Afen</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>pumpkin spice shenanigans</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/falsettodrop/gifts">falsettodrop</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The thing about being Chat Noir is that he gets to be <em>fun </em>like this.</p><p>And, okay, maybe that's—superficial or shallow, Adrien isn't sure. He knows he's supposed to do his best to help the civilians of Paris, to keep them safe whenever Hawk Moth descends on them again—to help the lovely Ladybug out in her heroic endeavors, because he's always at her side, and they're a team! And he really <em>does </em>do his best, puts his <em>all</em> into it. And maybe, logically, legally, that shouldn't really count as being <em>fun</em>.  </p><p>Everything gets fixed when Ladybug uses her power, so everything feels low-stakes. Low risk. Chat Noir is a hero himself and he doesn't need to feel fear—because he has power too, and he has strength, and he has courage, and he—he has all of that when <em>Adrien </em>doesn't.  So it feels like he's doing something a little bit wrong, when he feels the adrenaline rush of prowling on rooftops, the snap-flash-focus of his instincts when he fights an opponent. It's addictive, almost, it's hair-raising, and— </p><p>Yes. Yes, it's fun. But—he's Chat Noir, and Chat Noir can afford to be just a <em>little </em>bit dismissive when he fights bad guys for the good of Paris, right?</p><p>Ladybug does it too, after all—she leans into his puns and his jokes, sometimes throws one back at him just to see him sweat. At least, that's why he thinks she does it. She must get some joy out of teasing Chat every so often, and he gets a whole lot of joy out of being teased. Maybe that's because of Adrien's debilitating crush on Ladybug, but, well—that's not the point.</p><p>The point is, this probably shouldn't be something he has fun doing. </p><p>So maybe he should—<em>probably</em>—feel just a little guilty for getting so entertained by his exchanges with the local villain of the week. </p><p>Sure, Adrien admits that Chat Noir should <em>not </em>be scared of a little haunted house or dozen. Nope! No way! He just shouldn't! But the Pumpkin Man—heh, <em>Punchpkin</em>?—is just so <em>funny</em>, and his laughter and jokes provoked him too much, and well. Now Chat Noir is in a bit of a bind.</p><p>And yes, yeah, sure, maybe he wasn't totally prepared for Paris's villain of the week to be a manic American dressed in a pumpkin costume causing cheesy horror-genre chaos all over the city, but—! This is his job. He's got this. He's totally not scared.</p><p>But, uh, maybe dangling upside down from a giant web of spider silk is kind of, uh. Pushing the bounds of his bravery, so to speak.</p><p>"Ladybug! It'd—hah, it'd be really useful to have some help here right about now!" he stammers out, the nervous laughter spiraling from <em>too high </em>to<em> too quiet</em> and no he's <em>not </em>scared and no this is <em>not </em>a real spider that he will <em>not </em>acknowledge and Ladybug will fix it all once she does her magic reconstruction thing and it'll be fine it'll all be <em>finefinefine—</em></p><p>"Bugs like you would get swallowed up by my Hallow Spiders!" Punchpkin says, laughing with a tinge of hysteria, which, like, okay, a little cheesy, maybe too cheesy for Plagg himself—still! Still. Still. He'll be fine. Chat has just gotta keep telling himself he'll be fine.</p><p>"Chat!" says Ladybug, all worried and concerned and all those <em>pretty butterfly</em> <em>flutter </em>feelings that make his stomach drip drop down into his chest cavity. And, okay, maybe—maybe he's been hanging upside down too long, but he smiles blearily and ignores any thoughts of <em>any </em>spiders that are absolutely totally not there at all. Absolutely not. Everything is fine.</p><p>It takes some finessing from Ladybug's end, and Chat manages to claw his way out when he does catch glimpse of a Totally Not A Spider That He Is Absolutely Not Afraid Of, but the Pumpkin Man ends up back on the ground, blinking as his paper cup of pumpkin spice coffee is broken in half and de-akumatized by the triumphant Ladybug herself.</p><p>Chat is still shivering as he tugs off threads of any web silk that shit hangs onto his costume, and he suppresses a yelp when a hand lands on his shoulder, twirling around with his hackles raised and tail puffed up—</p><p>It's Ladybug. She's grinning, and her laugh makes his heart feel all molten again, and god oh <em>god </em>does Chat have the worst crush in the world, and he <em>knew </em>that reading all of that superhero/sidekick fanfiction in middle school would come back to haunt him even if he <em>did </em>delete his browser history to keep his father from finding it and anyway. Anyway. Ladybug and Chat Noir are way, way different from anything in the comic books and internet forums he's seen. </p><p>Chat laughs awkwardly with her, as he shrugs off another thread of web. Tries not to shudder too visibly. Can't quite manage it.</p><p>"Was the kitten afraid of a little spider?" Ladybug asks, lips slanted with mischief, but it's too good-natured for him to feel any real sting. Maybe his glasses are just too rose-tinted. It's not like the red warning of her costume would phase him any, anyway. Are ladybugs toxic, even?</p><p>"Hey! I was just practicing self-preservation, I'll have you know," Chat insists, and yelps as Ladybug dangles a little stray thread of silk into his eyes. "Not fair!"</p><p>"I'm just playing, scaredy-cat!" Her smile is too bright, though, and Chat feels a little blindsided. So not fair. He thought today would just be normal fun, not Plagg is going to make fun of him forever for this fun. But he manages another smile as he gives Ladybug a salute with two fingers, feels his cheeks flush when she tosses back that dazzling grin. </p><p>Maybe Chat is getting more pathetic by the second? Maybe Chat needs to figure out how to get his heart and head back in order, but as Paris recovers from the giant spiders and haunted Halloween decorations in a flash of of Ladybug's Kwami magic, as he sneaks into a shady alley corner to transform back into Adrien, well—</p><p>Maybe he could stand to let himself have a little more fun.</p>
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